From bradallen137 at gmail.com Mon Jun 7 03:26:54 2010 From: bradallen137 at gmail.com (Brad Allen) Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2010 20:26:54 -0500 Subject: [python-advocacy] help on wording of PyTexas 2010 announcement for profs/students Message-ID: We're working on an announcement to attract students to PyTexas 2010, and I would like to get some feedback on the wording before the announcement goes out. The goal here is to help professors and students understand why Python might be interesting and worth learning about. An editable version is available on the PyTexas wiki http://pytexas.org/AnnouncementForProfs2010 Here is the current version of the text: ==================================== Hello professors, I'm writing on behalf of the organizers of PyTexas 2010, a one-day conference organized by the Python programming community in the Texas region. It will be held at Baylor University in Waco on Saturday, Augst 28, and we'd like to invite you and your students to join us. Python is a general purpose, open source programming language popular for its elegant, high level, cross-platform design. It's fundamentally object oriented, but allows programming in a procedural style, which provides a smooth learning curve for those new to object-oriented concepts. It also supports many functional programming concepts such as iterators, generators, and list comprehensions. More importantly, Python has a wide range of practical uses, from simple shell scripts to large scale enterprise applications. It's used for system administration, web development, building GUI applications, scientific computing, game development, and as a "glue" language for systems integration, among other things. Python developers have many choices of runtime environments, including CPython, JVM(Jython), and .Net(IronPython). It's also used at some universities as an introductory language for computer science. At PyTexas this year we're planning a beginner's track, to help those new to Python get comfortable with the language and the most popular libraries. We'll also have a track for experienced Python developers interested in more advanced topics. We'd like to gauge interest among university level students and others. To do so we've developed a very brief survey that takes less than 5 minutes to complete. We could use your assistance disseminating the survey to students, other professors, or anyone else you think might be interested. Please forward the below introduction and link to students' emails or to an appropriate UT listserv. Also, you yourself should feel free to fill out the survey if you have any personal interest in attending. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Brad Allen Member of the DFW Python User Group ******************************************************************************* Hello, The PyTexas group invites you to take a very brief survey. We are organizing PyTexas 2010, a conference to share Python-related knowledge and enthusiasm, in the form of presentations, coding sprints, "teach me" sessions, and general socializing. Python is an excellent programming language with a thriving open source community. You can use it for system administration, web development, building GUI applications, scientific computing, game development, and as a "glue" language for systems integration, among other things. With its elegant, clear syntax, it's easy to learn; many Python developers like to say "Python fits my brain." We encourage you to get involved! To do so, please take a few moments to answer the questions in our survey. The link is available here or you may copy and paste the link below into your browser. Sincerely, PyTexas http://pytexas.org/ http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=9fj1H0BQlQsbWG4LT55DcXz7hhnvgzTQ8MjnmiuHh38%3d& From martin at martinthomas.net Mon Jun 7 05:08:56 2010 From: martin at martinthomas.net (Martin Thomas) Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2010 22:08:56 -0500 Subject: [python-advocacy] help on wording of PyTexas 2010 announcement for profs/students In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <82186943-A782-40BF-BE7C-1FCB2660AC8D@martinthomas.net> Brad, Just me being picky perhaps but I would drop the word "shell" .. It might also be worth linking to the Python.org success page to indicate the wide variety of companies using Python. 2c // M On Jun 6, 2010, at 8:26 PM, Brad Allen wrote: > We're working on an announcement to attract students to PyTexas 2010, > and I would like to get some feedback on the wording before the > announcement goes out. The goal here is to help professors and > students understand why Python might be interesting and worth learning > about. > > An editable version is available on the PyTexas wiki > > http://pytexas.org/AnnouncementForProfs2010 > > Here is the current version of the text: > ==================================== > > Hello professors, > > I'm writing on behalf of the organizers of PyTexas 2010, a one-day > conference organized by the Python programming community in the Texas > region. It will be held at Baylor University in Waco on Saturday, > Augst 28, and we'd like to invite you and your students to join us. > > Python is a general purpose, open source programming language popular > for its elegant, high level, cross-platform design. It's fundamentally > object oriented, but allows programming in a procedural style, which > provides a smooth learning curve for those new to object-oriented > concepts. It also supports many functional programming concepts such > as iterators, generators, and list comprehensions. > > More importantly, Python has a wide range of practical uses, from > simple shell scripts to large scale enterprise applications. It's used > for system administration, web development, building GUI applications, > scientific computing, game development, and as a "glue" language for > systems integration, among other things. Python developers have many > choices of runtime environments, including CPython, JVM(Jython), and > .Net(IronPython). It's also used at some universities as an > introductory language for computer science. > > At PyTexas this year we're planning a beginner's track, to help those > new to Python get comfortable with the language and the most popular > libraries. We'll also have a track for experienced Python developers > interested in more advanced topics. > > We'd like to gauge interest among university level students and > others. To do so we've developed a very brief survey that takes less > than 5 minutes to complete. > > We could use your assistance disseminating the survey to students, > other professors, or anyone else you think might be interested. > Please forward the below introduction and link to students' emails or > to an appropriate UT listserv. Also, you yourself should feel free to > fill out the survey if you have any personal interest in attending. > > Your assistance is greatly appreciated. > > Sincerely, > Brad Allen > Member of the DFW Python User Group > > ******************************************************************************* > > Hello, > > The PyTexas group invites you to take a very brief survey. We are > organizing PyTexas 2010, a conference to share Python-related > knowledge and enthusiasm, in the form of presentations, coding > sprints, "teach me" sessions, and general socializing. > > Python is an excellent programming language with a thriving open > source community. You can use it for system administration, web > development, building GUI applications, scientific computing, game > development, and as a "glue" language for systems integration, among > other things. With its elegant, clear syntax, it's easy to learn; many > Python developers like to say "Python fits my brain." > > We encourage you to get involved! To do so, please take a few moments > to answer the questions in our survey. The link is available here or > you may copy and paste the link below into your browser. > > Sincerely, > PyTexas > http://pytexas.org/ > > http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=9fj1H0BQlQsbWG4LT55DcXz7hhnvgzTQ8MjnmiuHh38%3d& > _______________________________________________ > Advocacy mailing list > Advocacy at python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/advocacy >